Miko lowered Nero on the table.

“I heard that he was put into suspended animation…What about his injuries after you free him?”

“They’ll remain. I suggest treating them before releasing him.”

Miko placed his hand on Nero’s body.

“You attacked not only the flesh but the soul too.”

He looked at Joesph.

“I can see why everyone reacted the way they did.”

“I needed at least that level of force to subdue him.”

Miko turned back to Nero and stared at him.

“Let me heal him.”

Ecko walked up to Nero and placed her hand on him. A white light engulfed her hand.

(Ruler’s Vita…As I thought, Ecko is a Vita God.)

The white light engulfed Nero before Miko’s eyes.

(Ruler’s Vita can manipulate life, so it’s perfect for repairing flesh and souls.)

The hole in Nero’s torso closed and his complexion returned to normal.

“There. He should be fine now.”

Joesph nodded and snapped his finger. A shattering sound echoed in the room.

“……..”

Nero’s eyes twitched. They slowly opened.

“Yo.”

The first thing he saw was a smiling Miko. He sat up and scanned the room. After a few seconds, he grinned.

“If everyone is here and I’ve been resurrected…I take it that I won.”

“I did all the hardwork though.”

Nero sprung to his feet and got off the table. He looked at Miko.

“So are you the Clan Leader now?”

“Close. I’m the heir.”

“Nice.”

The two bumped fists. He looked at Rouge and smirked.

“I guess you’re a figurehead Rouge. Welcome to the club.”

“Tsk. Not even a minute after you woke up and you’re pissing me off already.”

Nero laughed. Rouge had a small smile on his face. Nero turned to Joesph and pat his shoulder.

“Sorry about all the trouble, Uncle Joey. By the way….”

His grip on Joesph’s shoulder strengthened.

“I don’t see Kimiko nor Nova here….Does that mean that you took care of them too?”

The smile on his face betrayed the flames in his eyes.

“Nova is fine….You know you’re wife. She’s alive, is all can I say.”

“………”

Nero’s gripped tightened but loosened quickly after. He took his hand off Joesph’s shoulder.

“I’ll admit that it was my fault for not sharing my plan with anyone. If I did, Junior would've stopped her.”

He turned to Sasha and smiled.

“I’m glad to see that you’re fine, Sasha.”

He looked at Leon.

“For someone, I wanted to neuter, um…Miko, how old are you?”

“I’m 18.”

“For someone I wanted to neuter 18 years ago, I’ll honestly give you my praise for protecting my daughter during the explosion. I’m giving you my honest praise.”

“…..Thanks, I guess.”

He nodded.

“Now, what are we waiting for? It’s time to free my siblings!”

The Demon Nest, the Dragna Empire’s greatest prison. Designed by Augustus to store Higher Beings Captives, but was only built after his death. Ironically, the first to be put in this prison were his own grandchildren. Miko arrived at the space the prison was located in with everybody else.

“How nostalgic. I haven’t been here in 3 years.”

Miko laughed.

“You have a strange sense of humor if you can laugh about being imprisoned for 6 months.”

“Well, compared to everything else I’ve been through it’s was like a vacation when I look back on it.”

Miko laughed again ignoring the frowns on everyone’s faces. They arrived at the prison gates. There were traces of blood on them. They ignored them and marched on. The inside of the prison resembled that of any ordinary prison, except for the fact that there was evidence of violence all over.

“Didn’t you clean the prison?”

“With everything that was going on, an empty prison was the least of our concerns.”

Rouge answered Markus. They entered the main building and walked down the bloodstained halls.

“That reminds me, do you have a list of those who escaped?”

Miko asked the leaders.

“I do. I was planning on hunting them down once we’ve settled down.”

Andreas answered.

“Did you pass on the list to Kroc who’s still based outside the empire?”

“Of course. We even sent them to our allies.”

Miko nodded.

“Do you have a copy on you? If so, can you give me?”

“Here.”

Miko took a tablet from Andreas. He scanned through the names and faces displayed on it.

(Their combat abilities are also listed, good.)

“Ace, Sora.”

He gave Ace and Sora the tablet.

“Remember those names and faces. If you meet them in the future kill them on sight. Don’t worry about collecting information from them. They’ll most likely be used to hide New Era’s trail. So, no need to hesitate.”

“….Miko, a lot of these people are above the Divine Realm.”

“And? If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all my deaths, it’s that anyone can be killed by anyone. There are no rules to killing, no one is safe….That being said, I didn’t mean now. If you meet them and are confident that you can kill them, go for it.”

Ace and Sora looked at the list again and nodded.

“Once you’re done pass it around, I’m sure that others here will want to hunt them as well.”

They walked through the seemingly endless prison while checking the list.

“…I’ve been wondering, why weren’t Nero’s siblings freed during the prison break?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

Joesph answered Darwin. They walked to the end of the prison and came across a door. The door had the Dragna symbol on it.

“First of all, you need to be able to open this door to reach where they are.”

Nero approached the door and placed his hand on it. Purple static was emitted from the knob.

“Only those with Augustus and Tiamat’s blood can open this door. Normally, there would be dozens of guards protecting non-Dragna people from touching it. If they don’t do that and someone touches it, they’ll lose their soul.”

“Seriously…”

Nero turned the knob and opened the door. The creaking that came from it made everyone’s chest tightened. Before them was pure darkness. It was impossible to see what was inside from the hall. Nero walked in with a smile on his face. Miko followed behind. Soon, everyone entered one after the other.

“Woah…”

Renatus’s eyes widened at the sight before him. It was the same for everyone except Joesph and the Branch Leaders. In front of them were two flights of stairs. One led to an ice castle in the sky. Behind this castle was an enormous ice sculpture.

“Is that a frozen sun?”

Alec showed great interest in the ice sun, which was emitting a blue light that illuminated the castle and the space around it. The other flight of stairs led to a pink palace resting on blue clouds. Behind it was a rainbow and hundreds of cartoonish stars.

“It’s like looking at a child’s drawing…”

Kristen mumbled. As for Miko-

“Incredible....”

A smile slowly crept onto his face.

“Two dimensions…No, three dimensions if you count the one where we’re standing. Three dimensions, with their own rules governing them, are interacting without affecting each other. I don’t even know where to begin to construct something like this.”

(As I thought, Augustus had some real talent around him.)

Nero walked forward.

“My siblings are imprisoned in those dimensions.”

He stopped just before the stairs.

“If you recklessly try and climb these, you’ll regret it. For example, if you step on the ice stairs not only your flesh, even your soul will be frozen for eternity. So no one will risk it.”

He turned to everyone with a smile.

“If it wasn’t this hard to reach them, I would’ve bust them out of prison myself.”

He stretched his hand out to Joesph.

“With that being said, could you please open up the pathway? I don’t want to die before I reunite with my family.”

Joesph looked at his hand and sighed. He took out an emblem with a heart surrounded by flames. He threw it past Nero. Emerald sparks flew about as the emblem floated in the air. After a few seconds, the emblem flew back into Joesph’s hands.

“You’re free to enter.”

“Thanks.”

Ecko approached Nero.

“Who are you going to free first?”

“The conditions they’re imprisoned under are different, it’s the same for the methods used to seal them. Both will be confused and mentally unstable. The deciding factor is who is less dangerous and easier to control.”

“Meaning…”

“I’ll free my older brother first.”

“Falkon?”

Ecko became confused.

“Wait, you think Falkon is less dangerous than Ravel?”

“You think he can be controlled?”

She wasn’t the only one Alexus and Andreas voiced their concerns.

“Gamiko, Falkon indiscriminately slaughtered clan members in a fit of rage. That rage was still there when he was imprisoned. Considering the type of seal used on him, that rage will be as fresh as back then when he’s freed.”

Rouge approached him.

“Miko said you have a way to control him, but I’m still skeptical. Don’t free him if you’re not certain you can do that.”

“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.”

“…Do you know how many times I almost died after hearing you utter those words? Most of the time, you’re the reason I almost died.”

Nero patted Rouge's shoulder.

“Just sit back and watch, trust me.”

Ecko approached those of the younger generations.

“You guys stay in the back. Run behind Joesph at the first sign of danger.”

They nodded like students listening to their teacher.

“…You people really have no fate in me huh?”

Nero sighed and turned towards Miko’s group.

“Well, at least I know my daughter and grandchildren—”

“Remember, run if I give you the signal. I know a spell that will teleport us out of here. If that fails, I’ll summon Tia and we’ll use her as a meat shield.”

“…….”

Nero silently turned away and started walking up the stairs leading to the ice castle. Everyone followed behind him.

“It feels like these steps are draining all of my energy…Can’t we fly to the top?”

“If you do that, you’ll never reach the castle. You’re only inside the same dimension when you’re on the steps. We just have to take it slow.”

Ecko answered her daughter Sophia. They arrived at the castle after nearly 10 minutes.

“Beautiful…”

Tessa mumbled the word that was on everybody’s mind. The castle was made of luminous ice that was crafted to make a display of majestic architecture.

“Falkon is at the center.”

Nero marched deeper into the castle until he found what was searching for. At the center of the castle, there were three giant ice crystals with people inside them.

“Three people?”

“Falkon was sealed with his two children.”

Miko answered Kristen as they approached the crystals. They were soon able to get a better look at them. In the center was a man dressed in black robes. He had a muscular build, purple and azure hair, a handsome yet stern face.

“It’s been a long time, Falkon.”

Nero gazed upon his brother with a soft expression. He spun around and faced the leaders of the three clans.

“Alright, free my brother.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Rouge grumbled and took out an emblem with the Dragna mark and the #2 on it. It was his branch insignia. Alexus, Ecko, and Andreas did the same.

“Markus and Darwin, your insignias are needed as well.”

Joesph showed his insignia again. Markus and Darwin took out their insignia that was proof that they were clan leaders. Nero’s body flickered. The insignias disappeared and reappeared in Nero’s hand.

“Thank you.”

He took out his own insignia and added it to the bunch. He threw them at the crystal holding Falkon. The emblems attached to the crystal. They flashed lights of emerald, azure, and crimson. Cracks appeared in the crystal. The lights seeped through the cracks and caused them to spread. Everyone subconsciously backed away, except for Nero who wore a huge grin.

*Boom!*

The crystal shattered with an explosion. Mist filled the room. A silhouette was soon spotted in the mist. Once it faded away, Falkon appeared before Nero. He slowly opened his eyes and revealed a pair of golden dragon eyes.

(Those look like Tiamat’s…)

Miko started examining Falkon. That’s when Falkon’s face distorted with rage.

“I’ll kill them…I’ll kill every single one of those fuckers!”